Wenger to stay: The man is a disgrace to elite sport

So kind of as I suspected, Arsene Wenger, according to the circle of access journalists, is sadly poised to stay on at the club. Not for one year, but for the duration of a proper contract. He’s under the delusional notion that this season is a blip in a glittering 21 year career, versus the culmination of a lot of practice that is far from best.

This isn’t a surprising move. We’ve known the club has been preparing us most of the season through its network of lackeys in the press, combining that with the embarrassing ‘gun to the head’ proclamations of love from grateful players who are being offered too much money to stay on in his hugely flawed project.

It still burns though. The choice has been taken out of the hands of the people at the club who full well know what a disaster Wenger is overseeing at the moment. We know that Arsene Wenger has looked at the wreckage of this season and decided the results don’t matter, he’s chosen to ignore the reason his best players are likely leaving, he’s ignoring the protests in the air and in the sky, and he’s ignoring the cold hard reality of where he’s at in his badly stuttering career.

We’re now entering the indulgence zone.

Phillipe Auclair stated this on Twitter:

‘Wenger is aware of the unrest around the club, but not as a fan would be. He’ll take it as a spur to prove people wrong. Always has done.’

For such a talented writer, the lack of substance in these words is breathtaking. If fans see the unrest as poor results, lacklustre ideas, poor execution of said ideas and a collapse of player faith… what is Wenger seeing? Who really cares about Wenger proving anyone wrong? It’s not his right to have a choice in the matter.

Wenger had the chance to prove us wrong after he wrongly signed for three years after scrapping a cup final he went two goals down in. Three years on, how have we moved our game on? Chelsea fired managers twice and won the league near enough twice and Leicester poured cold water on 10 years of Wenger hiding behind money as a reason we couldn’t compete.

Football is about results, not desperately trying to work out the perfect sign off for a manager who has been stale for ten years.

John Cross disingenuously stated that he doesn’t believe Wenger has lost the dressing room, alluding to the idea this unrest comes from players not knowing what Wenger will do next. Are you f*cking kidding me? Wenger is a poor manager when compared to the elite of Europe, players have known this for years. You only had to read Lukas Podolski mocking Wenger’s ‘you are a wolf’ tactics to imagine what they’re saying now. Wenger isn’t even in the top 20 in Europe these days.

His antiquity isn’t even up for debate these days, he’s a dusty fossil in the Natural History Museum of ‘Past Greats’, he’s old, deeply deluded, and living in a now institutionalised world of mediocrity he designed. He is dead in elite management. He will never come back from the grave. Do not kid yourself it is possible, even with a world class DoF he won’t listen to.

So what next? How do the fans move on from this? It’s a tough question. But I think he’s jumped the shark here. This move is beyond desperate and I don’t think there are many examples of this sort of behaviour at any elite club in the Europe. In fact, I struggle to think of a single example this pathetic since Brian Clough hung on for far too long and landed his team in the division below never to return again.

Arsene Wenger, after this announcement, will suffer total shut down with his players. We could end up finishing 7th or 8th. This summer, he’ll struggle to move on underperforming players because he’s tied them all down to new deals. He’ll struggle to keep the good players because he can’t offer them a better career or a development plan beyond the basics he was preaching in 1998. Next season, he might be thinking that without the CL, he can pull a Leicester or a Chelsea. Trouble with that notion is he doesn’t have the players, he doesn’t have a system good enough, and he has no idea how to beat elite teams.

Next season could be even worse. Once you hit two seasons out of the Champions League, the job of bringing yourself back to the top again, under a great manager, becomes more and more expensive.

By continuing the madness, Stan K is making the recovery ever more difficult.

… and we, the fans, helpless? American sports fans are placid compared to the Brits. I wonder what sort of environment Wenger will find himself in next year when things go south?

A conversation for another day.

Final comment. Fully understand the predicament Ivan has himself in. But his inability to influence his boss really is telling. Begs the question if he’s even trying? I fully expect him to do a good job when he’s given the chance, but my oh my, if I were running the club on that money, I’d have Stan seeing the light, no doubt. The difference between seeing your job as something to preserve at the cost of excitement, versus seeing your job as an opportunity to achieve collective greatness and make history.

488 Responses to “Wenger to stay: The man is a disgrace to elite sport”

It’s amazing that the Robin van Persie letter is now going on 5 years ago.
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“This was a meeting about the club’s future strategy and their policy. Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.

“I personally have had a great season but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days.

“Out of my huge respect for Mr. Wenger, the players and the fans I don’t want to go into any details, but unfortunately in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.”
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He was smart and jumped ship . We, unfortunately, are having to go down with the Titanic…. the slow slow sinking.

Wenger might well sign but even if he does I can’t see him lasting past Christmas. Make no mistake he is a desperate man and history indicates they don’t stick around too long. Worth noting that Kroenke did actually fire Jeff Fisher from the LA Rams in December, months after he’s signed a new contract, following a series of embarrassing defeats and a terrible season. Not saying they are like for like situations (the Rams having just moved back to LA need to re-establish a fan base) but maybe even Kroenke has his limits and there is hope for us yet….

If they are still trying to defend him or deflect blame for him they are as big a disgrace as he is at this stage and have as little regard for the club and as much regard for Wenger’s own interests as Wenger does himself.

I obviously dont know what actually happening at Arsenal but ive been wondering what happening since Ozil began not playing a couple of weeks
ago.

Bunch of players renewed contracts in January while our two best offense players Sanchez and Ozil , the guys who sell shirts, have so far refused to sign extension. Maybe Ozil is using Sanchez discontent to negotiate larger salary, maybe Ozil wants to play for normal elite team that aims to win league and wants new team.

Right now, it looks like other clubs fire manager when results start to go wrong while Arsenal sell their best players and renew failed manager’s contract when results go wrong.

I have no problem at all imagining transfer window that starts in few of months where Arsenal’s best players leave, no world class players can be convinced to join Arsenal because club cares more about assuaging Wenger ego than winning trophies, and then next season the real shit sandwiches will be served because we are woefully understaffed.

A person can only put so much time and effort in to something they ultimately have no control over.

I offered my prediction for Arsenal in the near term, and it’s not good. Another 2-3 years of futility and failure under Arsene Wenger.

He’ll finish 5th or 6th this season and blame it on the difficulty of playing in both Europe and the PL. He’ll say to win the PL today, one must focus on the PL, and he’ll point to Leicester & Chelsea.

While he may do slightly better in the league next season — without Europe to worry about — he still won’t contend, and he’ll finish 7-10 points off the winners.

Wenger will claim, though, that he was correct about things, but he’ll say that it is still very difficult to win the title given the competitiveness, money involved, etc.

Wenger will then stay on for another year (2018-19), this time playing in the CL, and he will again have a season like this season, that is, failure in the CL, failure in the league.

At that point, Wenger will be 70 years old. Whether he will continue on will be determined by “mutual agreement” between him and the board.

Through it all, AKBs will continue to support and defend Wenger, making one absurd argument after another.

Because this is all a bit shit, pointless and predictable, I think I’m going to watch from more of a distance going forward. I will return to full-time support of Arsenal when Wenger finally fucks off.

Not sure AW staying…. He would have seen that the team was not performing because of the uncertainty and tried to remedy.

First it was Boro Primorac, then he said something over teh week end and then some kind of confirmation he is staying.

But if he was to stay, why did Primorac leave? And the lawyer doing our deals too? Why did the Chairman issue a communique in which he said the fans will know soon. If it was news Wenger would be staying, it would have been writtde differently.

Think AW is going to PSG and spread fake news so the players would fight for that fourth place.

I have said it so many times,as fans we are a pathetic bunch,wimps,keyboard players,I would guess virtually none of the moaners attended the March,so we deserve everything that Wenger does to us and our club!
This situation would never arise at any other club in the world because their fans get off their arses,wave handkerchiefs,March,demonstrate at the very doors of the club!we can’t even muster 1000 for a bloody walk!
I was included in the ‘do nothing brigade’ until last year,I gave up my ST,wrote a letter to Gazidis outlining my frustrations.I am an ardent WENGER OUT man and will continue to vent my anger any way I can.
I listen to Arsenal Fan Tv and try to consider both sides of the argument but still firmly believe in WENGER OUT.
I admire people like DT Claude Troopz etc etc because they are actually doing something to protest ie banners!and I applaud them for their guts,it must be hard for them to display these banners under the threat of violence and abuse from WENGER supporters.They have balls of steel and it’s a shame more fans aren’t like them.
Our fans are weak,NOT all of them but a very large majority.Are they scared or just worried at being called a WOB.Seems to me that the AKB’s have the upper hand both inside the ground and in the media.
I sincerely hope that WHEN he signs a new contract and the club announce it,there will be carnage at the ground in the media wherever it’s possible.
My club is dying. And will soon be dead.

“Not to do it for a moment in the sun but be able to count ourselves in the ranks of Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munichs of this world over the next generation. ”

Along the way the environment became more difficult and I think Arsene has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has – they are a club that is doing this on its own two feet without an outside benefactor – to make really smart decisions over time.

“He hasn’t got every one correct but broadly fantastic decisions on players, the development on the team, the need to keep the team competing at the top of the game.”

“We have been in Europe for 15 straight years. We are ranked sixth in Europe by Uefa – those things are taken for granted but they are fantastic achievements through the process of building a stadium and catapulting the club forward.”

“We are coming to the end of the stadium journey now where some of the commercial deals that we tied into the stadium move, which were fantastic deals for us because they enabled us to get the stadium built, are coming up for renewal. We have got the opportunity as a club to really catapult our revenues forward again.”

“I am very conscious of the fact that it sometimes sounds like I talk about Arsenal in terms of revenue streams and so on. Partly that’s because it’s a big part of my job, but really all of this is about football.”

“This club has a really simple financial model. I wouldn’t call it a business model because it is not like any other business I know or could imagine.

We generate revenue and we reinvest all of that revenue in football. We don’t pay dividends, the money doesn’t come out of the club.
All of the money we make is made available to our manager and he has done an unbelievable job in managing that spend. When we evaluate how well we are doing, I think there are three factors.
Firstly, whether we are able to compete financially at the top of the game. That depends on the environment that we are in which I believe has been somewhat irrational in terms of player spending but is becoming more rational as the game wakes up and demands regulation.
We see that in FFP moving at a tremendous rate at Uefa level, and also there is serious discussion happening at the Premier League level domestically.”

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said that the Gunners can “cope” without playing in the Champions League.

Ivan Gazidis said he is not worried about missing out on the UCL (quotes obtained from ESPN):

“We would rather qualify for it but we have a really sustainable model that can cope without it. Not just cope, but we can do well and compete. It would be very foolish to build a business model that relied on being in the Champions League for perpetuity and I don’t think any clubs do that and, if they do, then they probably aren’t being run as responsibly as they should be.”

Gazidis in 2011…More horse manure flying around since time immemorial..

Arsenal’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has delivered a rousing defence of the club’s manager, Arsène Wenger, insisting suggestions that the Frenchman’s methods no longer suit the modern game and that his position is under threat are “nonsense”.

“[The criticism of Wenger] is part of this black and white perception: that you’re either flying high or a broken failure,” said Gazidis. “He didn’t suddenly become a bad manager. To have him portrayed as some kind of idiot who is out of touch is profoundly damaging, not simply for Arsenal nor particularly for Arsène, but for football. It’s nonsense based on the need to always create a mini-crisis … we are incredibly fortunate to have a manager who has a vision of what the game can be. To have a manager that thinks about the future is relatively rare.

“There is genuine unity of purpose at Arsenal. We are fully supportive of each other. I think the lack of division [between the board and the manager] sometimes infuriates people.”

More shower of horse manure on Arsene’s supposed achievements from 2012 by Ivan Lazidis

In a wide-ranging interview with Telegraph Sport, Gazidis argued that Wenger’s “masterful” 16-year contribution had provided the foundations to cement Arsenal’s place alongside Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona among the elite of world football.

Gazidis also said that Arsenal’s eventual succession-planning will be carefully managed to ensure that the club’s “DNA”, now so embodied by Wenger, would remain protected.
Wenger’s contract lasts until the end of next season but, with 2014 regarded as pivotal in the club’s future due to the renegotiation of major commercial partnerships, Gazidis outlined the board’s hope that the 62 year-old would continue in the long term. If Wenger was to agree a new contract, it would almost certainly commit him to more than 20 consecutive years at Arsenal.

LOL…20 MORE YEARS!!(Interview in 2012)

“It’s not a sense of sentimentalism, not a reward for services, it’s a belief that we have an incredible manager who loves this club and is the best man to lead us forward,” Gazidis said.
“We’re really confident about the direction that the club is heading. I feel he can keep going for a long time. He’s in fantastic shape and he’s as driven as he’s ever been and excited as ever.”

Amid the recent backdrop of Arsenal’s failure to win a trophy since 2005 but consistency in finishing in the top four, Gazidis particularly praised Wenger’s bravery in making decisions that placed the club’s long-term well-being ahead of his own short-term popularity.
“We’re not dominated by fear,” he said. “Arsène never succumbs. We try to do more than win, we try to win with style. I know we haven’t won trophies in recent years.

“We can get into extensive debate about individual decisions – and like all clubs we are not perfect – but the ultimate arbiter of whether you are spending your money efficiently is where did you finish in the Premier League versus your overall spending,” he said.
“When you look at what Arsene has done, within the overall constraints, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary.”

“We get accused of a lack of ambition or complacency because apparently the board are only interested in the top four. That is absolute rubbish. To me this is the most ambitious football club I know.”
Gazidis is also increasingly confident that Uefa’s ‘break-even’ principles of financial fair play will genuinely be implemented. “I think there is a perception that Michel Platini devised an evil plan in his bath to go after English football,” Gazidis said.
“That’s just simply not the case. They are not rules coming down on high, they are actually rules the clubs themselves developed in conjunction with Uefa. We are seeing very serious discussions within the Premier League about introducing these regulations. It’s going to happen and it is happening faster than people realise.”

It’s all there..In black & white,draw your own conclusions.Statements made since 2011..

Ivan Gazidis said: One of the things we have to do as a club is become less reliant on our match day revenue. As a big club we are very reliant on the revenues we generate in the stadium, more so than any other big club. That has really been the impetus and catalyst for what we do globally and how we develop ourselves around the world. We take advantage of the fact we have fans all around the world and we can connect with them.

At the same time, we are bringing in Steve Bould and N. Banfield. These are two people who have been with the Club and know the way it works, who understand the traditions and the values of the Club, and who will bring their own ideas to the table. Neither of them are wall flowers, so we have two new active participants in the first team set-up. Arsene is very excited about the contributions they will bring. So am I and I think so is every Arsenal fan. They are very progressive, very forward-looking and they understand Arsenal values; the way we play the game and what we represent.

Well commercially the clubs not doing great compared to others, wenger stays in 2 years we will no longer be the biggest club in London. Does anyone actually buy shirts anymore? Apart from diehard parents who force their kids to support the club we no longer attract new generation supporters. My fear is we do not end up like Nottingham forest , fighting relegation I can’t see wenger getting these players to play for him.

Looking at those Gazidis comments, Arsenal fans certainly need to stop this whole ‘the Arsenal way,’ ‘our traditions’ etc thing, because apparently to the people running the club Arsenal’s tradition are about disrespecting the fans, being profit orientated and defending an autocracy at all costs. And you are allowing them to create that narrative when you talk about ‘class,’ ‘traditions’ etc which they could not give less of a fuck about.

The club has been run on ‘easy’ mode for a long time, fans have not been demanding, have fabricated excuses etc for the poor showings at Arsenal, interested to see if the fans sack up now. Will the fury carry on, on dissipate as I expect and we will be stuck with this shit for at the very least another two years?

Assuming Wenger is signing on I just can’t see how your prediction of finishing 7 – 10 points off the league leaders next season can work. We’re going to lose Sanchez, Ozil, the Ox and probably Wilshere in the summer. Add on the BFG (might not be a great player now but still a personality) maybe Ramsey and one or two others and with Wenger’s constant reticence in the transfer market added with no CL football to offer to replacements I think we’re going to end up with half a squad. We might sign a couple of rough diamonds or unknown players but that’s Wenger of the past. What established player would want to come to Arsenal for 2 years of a short career to barely tread water. And that’s being optimistic.

I think the only bright outcome on the horizon is that Wenger’s going to crash hard. It’s going massively pear shaped at the moment and I think next season will be a continuation of the slippery slope. Whilst I don’t think the club will ever sack him I do think either during next season or at the end of it Wenger will chuck in the towel before he is sacked.

I don’t think he will, I think he is honestly deluded, someone said on ESPN today that a coach will always think they can turn it around up to the moment they are sacked, Ranieri would have. There is no one at Arsenal to sack him.

He genuinely thinks the fan reaction is to one or two results, he genuinely thinks we are in a good place, he genuinely thinks we’re close to challenging and there are still legions of lemmings who will follow him off the cliff.

What is hilarious, is all the pussies that talked about destabilisation etc if Wenger left and the transition wobbles, well we are living through them now with Wenger in charge.

The way we train, the way we play is all about passing, communication, movement, intelligence, anticipation and technical execution. All of these types of things, it is very much a team ethos.
I think it is one of the things that makes us resilient to the loss of an individual player and, over time, we have seen Arsenal lose some really significant players but bounce back strongly.

That’s not something that just happens by accident. It doesn’t happen by accident that Ian Wright is succeeded by a Thierry Henry is succeeded by an Adebayor is succeeded by a van Persie. It is not just happy coincidence.
It is part of the ethos of the club, very much based around a team, very much based around giving young players an opportunity to step up and step forward and show what they can do.

We give a lot of thought to our wage structure. Within an overall constraint, if you are paying four or five players superstar wages, it restricts what you are able to do with other players and there are no hard and fast rules on any of that.

I don’t you realise how bad I think it’s going to get. I’m talking worse than mid table form losing 4 or 5 or the bounce, half the squad leaving, half not interested in playing for him and no one of talent interested in signing for us.

Whilst I wouldn’t want to see it if he collapsed with a heart attack mid match I wouldn’t be surprised.

I just don’t think so, if there was a mass shooting I would want to be stood behind Wenger, nothing ever seems to stick to him.

A decent run of results until the end of the season would not surprise me, all the lemmings will chirp up again about it being not so bad, or it could be worse. I’m astounded that there are still people supporting him today, this is a man who has justified his relevance at the top level bu UCL qualification and now suddenly that is a total irrelevance to his staying on.

Absolute shameless egotist. Maybe you are right, and everything will now collapse, basically years of neglect suddenly all arriving at once, but I just don’t see it, Wenger is like one of those viruses that lives in the harshest conditions and just when you think you have eliminated it it surfaces again, requires death of the host to fully shift unfortunately, and that is Kroenke.

Same old, same old. Wenger Out.
I can prove you if he wanted we’d have won 3 times the title at least, and at least one CL, if not for the Diaby’s, Djourou’s and the likes.
He should resign if he fails to Qualify, and in all honesty, he should resign whatever happens. it’s only when supporters will stop paying for shit that it will stop. as phd07 just reminded, you can copy paste previous years, and the same will be. banking management can only need to stagnation when it is not the main ressource you have which produces your income. in other terms, the academy is shite, and Wenger still has to buy players because we don’t produce good players enough. and thats down to management and youth recruitment and training. Funny how AS Monaco manages it, maybe for it to work, it needed a Wengr Out. Period.

My word, how our belief in Wenger at the time skewered the fans outlook on football on a whole; FFP, economics, assets, budgets, contracts, injury prone players, what was world class, what is deemed good football, what is competing, what is good, what is bad, oligarchs, training, tactics, leaders, captains, development, possession, barca-lite, counter attack, defence, midfield, loyalty, referees, scheduling, top 4, scouting, unity, mental strength, the handbrake, being jaded, having the best team he has ever worked with, sanogo, diaby being like a new signing, wilshere being like a new signing, only signing WC players, wtf was gervinho, djourou, bendtner, cygan, silvestre, santos, almunia, chamakh, etc, etc, etc. I could literally drive myself insane thinking about Wenger’s BS.

Because of what he had done in the first 10 years we gave him the freedom of Arsenal, unchallenged and bought into everything he said. I say we very loosely.

For all it’s worth I still believe he’ll leave this season, if not out of choice, but because there is no way we can turn this form around and the fanbase will reach boiling point.

Wenger has never been a pragmatist. When it goes wrong for him it will be complete meltdown, We’re going to get some really negative results between now and the end of the season. A summer TW of complete incompetence, an attempt at a late major signing that will go tits up and a piss poor start to next season.

I feel as if the whole of Le Grove (the sane elements not the pro-Wenger rabble) need a night in a bar, like a long long night, no beer, straight onto the hard stuff and just wallow in misery.

I think what sucks the most about this was the brief glimpses of hope, Allegri, an actual DoF etc, even though deep down we knew it had only a small chance of happening, but the second he signs that deal the club is done.

Assuming Wenger is signing on I just can’t see how your prediction of finishing 7 – 10 points off the league leaders next season can work. We’re going to lose Sanchez, Ozil, the Ox and probably Wilshere in the summer. Add on the BFG (might not be a great player now but still a personality) maybe Ramsey and one or two others and with Wenger’s constant reticence in the transfer market added with no CL football to offer to replacements I think we’re going to end up with half a squad. We might sign a couple of rough diamonds or unknown players but that’s Wenger of the past. What established player would want to come to Arsenal for 2 years of a short career to barely tread water. And that’s being optimistic.”

Gotta agree.

This ship has hit the berg and there’s only one way this is going. Due to greed and being a maniac Wenger will stick around but we are in the fast-lane to nowhere right now and it’s sickening.

Just imagine that for the next two seasons nothing will matter because we all know how the story will end.

You are coming around to the idea Gazidis is a douche. Essentially you are saying that if you were in his position you would be doing a hell of a lot more to make sure Wenger is pushed towards the right direction.

This has been my argument with you from day one. Gazidis may be powerless to physically sack Wenger but come on, you’ve got to earn your keep somehow right? Simply put, Gazidis, on his showing as CEO thus far, does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

In my eyes you earn respect and Gazidis doesn’t deserve his wageor the respect of the fans. And although he gave you 5 minutes for a chat Pedro you need to look at it objectively.

wenger should be the first foreign french to have access to Clairefontaine. but as long as platini is involved, he’ll never favor Wenger in any way. so yes, the “french” advantage of Wenger is non existant anymore. if he had been,, Mbappé would have gone to Arsenal.

With each passing moment of this further delay in making ‘his announcement’, more and more people in the room are beginning to smell the vile stench of Wenger’s failings.

Look at ALL the forums, more and more of the posters are saying that the moment Wenger’s signature dries on that contract, we might as well say goodbye to the club.

The tide is beginning to finally wash over the fance-sitters, the let-him-go-graciously brigade are waking up just as the procession is about to leave for the coronation.

The realisation that the lunatic is going to sign has finally hit the masses. I’d say over the last 48 hours it has gone 85/15 or even 90/10 infavour of NoNewContract.

Carry on this season as we are, and it’s going to get truly venomous in the bowl; for once, Wenger won’t have the higher ground. The chorus of boos will get louder and stonger, the empty seats will increase at people vote with their feet, and you can guarantee that the protests will gain more supporters and importantly, more recognition.

RAMSEY – not good enough
XHAKA – OK
OZIL – OK if moves his ass in big games, but I think he’s just gutted of Wenger
ADELAIDE too young, should have gone on loan
OX – Wenger boy but knows something’s wrong although doesn’t point it at Wenger
COQUELIN – too young, should have been loaned out, Wenger boy, but kept for HG reasons
CAZORLA – too old
ELNENY – not good enough

SANCHEZ– OK if moves his ass in big games, but I think he’s just gutted of Wenger
IWOBI – too young, should have been loaned out, Wenger boy
PEREZ – shame he can’t score in the league for 17m, not good enough for CL and Liv-MAnU and the likes – waste of money
SANOGO – waste
GIROUD – too old
WELLBECK – lost all the 3 big games he played in including the last joke, not enough game time, lost the will cause of Wenger
WALCOTT – Wenger boy, overplayed, but knows Wenger has lost the plot, and because of that, doesn’t reach his actual potential

LOAN:
CHAMBERS – at least he scored in the only game before sent on loan but why bring him in then?
CAMPBELL – 5th loan since he signed
SZCZESNY ->> Roma -> Smokes and get ban after 6-1 loss to Barca and finger breaks
AKPOM ->> Brighton…
WILSHERE ->> Bournemouth – no fuckin comment, 3-3 vs Bournemouth?
ASANO ->> Stuttgart maybe trying to sign Modeste
AFOBE ->> Bournemouth 2M then 10M after one year – no fuckin comment

Xhaka ia a great player, but Wenger always takes a year and a half to bed in such players. look Ozil. Under other manager, he’d either be used as attacking midfielder and work his long shot, either wor his tackles as defensive miedfielder, and he’s not helped at all by others around him, or the manager. Of all the players, I already dont keep a lot. but those would still have a place in my 25 man squad.

What a pathetic, unedifying spectacle of a man who was once a winner, but is reduced to hanging on because he has no life outside ruining a team.
It is horrible, tragic, he will be stripped of respect.
And what is even worse, a spineless board and owner, who have never tasted the greatness he has, reduced to hiding behind him, because they lack the initiative and drive to do anything about it.
It will get worse as the indignation spreads. A supposedly well respected CEO who will have money, but never again credibility. Coaching staff no proper club will again touch. A manager who will ultimately be deprived of his mental, and perhaps physical health, he is insular but won’t cope with a whole stadium spewing hatred. And an owner who doesn’t care. And they will have bought it on themselves

Reliable Sauce : ty. my take is the fucker is here to stay with surely some crunchy secrets in a Pandora box the American wouldn’t like to be opened, must have partied too hard with some of the players …. he’s gonna stay until Lady Arsenal is ready to tell him to fuck off to PSG. Plane Banners are not even taken real, because for other countries, its like the rich people protest. but that’s not what stops heresy. only money talks. the biggest payers should be voicing their threats of going to support Arsenal in their local pub until Wenger takes seriously titles aspirations, but as long as money goes, im sure the board will even give him 3 more years, as he will probably not sign just one year, and this whether qualified for CL or not. And PSG is not gonna bring in Wenger to take care of first team with the titles he can show for himself in the last 10 years. The board fears losing the golden goose, without realising it isnt golden anymore, just silverish.

redtruth: you talk about 1 miss. shit happens. and he didnt have to apologize, and he did, contrary to many players who wouldnt just give a fuck… rest of the stats talks for him. they even beat Portugal just after they won the world cup, ok, without CRonaldo, but still. he’s run to the ground, and with shit training. and again, without proper players around him. There should be a better older player to lead and calm him down a bit, but there isnt, and its not Cazorla that will do it. https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/28/01/2017/Granit-Xhaka-Why-the-stats-love-the-Swiss,-but-not-the-Arsenal-fans

“It was a clumsy tackle. He has to learn from that. I think he’s quite intelligent on the pitch but it’s more the way he tackles that is not convincing. He doesn’t master well the technique of tackling – I would rather encourage him not to tackle, to stay on his feet.”

There is no stat for decision making and whilst all footballers make hundreds per game, it is the ability to stay calm under pressure that sets apart the very best. ———————- then who should place him in a more upfront position, or actually train him????

I think Arsene is just trying to negotiate with PSG, waiting to see what the QSI does with manager in place. but they’d have no reason to sack PSG’s manager, QSI bought the Barca win against PSG, and current manager is doing great job aside of that game.

Metro saying Wenger will sign for one more year. we won’t be in the CL so it’ll be his final bow, possibly not even playing in Europe. Our best players will leave this summer, but we’ll probably get 4th next season, no trophies. We’ll lose a few big games heavily, the banners and marches will still be there, and then Wenger will finally go. so next season will be a wasted season when we could have moved on and made forward steps this summer. So depressing.

Giving wenger a new contract is not only idiocy of the highest order it is a big F you to the fans. It’s time to boycott the club, don’t go to games, don’t renew season tickets don’t give them a penny. It’s the only thing they’ll understand. We have the most deluded useless wast of space board in the country on top of a greedy stubborn arrogant lame duck manager.

Metro saying Wenger will sign for one more year. we won’t be in the CL so it’ll be his final bow, possibly not even playing in Europe. Our best players will leave this summer, but we’ll probably get 4th next season, no trophies. We’ll lose a few big games heavily, the banners and marches will still be there, and then Wenger will finally go. so next season will be a wasted season when we could have moved on and made forward steps this summer. So depressing.”

It’s absolutely farcical this whole situation.

There is literally ZERO reason why he should extend from a footballing/managerial standpoint. ZERO.

Let’s face it. If he could have fixed this shiite show by now he would have. He hasn’t just been biding his time. He’s plum out of ideas, energy, desire and motivational tactics.(or any sort of tactics).

He extends because he’s greedy and he’s afraid.

What’s gonna happen? He couldn’t attract players for years even with the UCL top 4 BS but now barring a complete role reversal we are somehow going to finish outside of top 4 and he’s going to fix the problems by recruiting top talent?

Are his players , who he has clearly lost some of them, going to suddenly be re-invigorated now that he extends?

Are our usual nemeses going to stop getting better and just allow us to win the league/UCL as a tribute to the old man?

It serves one person by signing on and that is Wenger himself. A greedy POS who probably doesn’t even realize he’s decapitating his own legacy right now.

The Alan Smith one is also very good. Watched it on YouTub earlier. What I don’t understand is that given that this has been going on for over 10 years, most people (including some fans) give the impression that it’s a recent thing. Wenger isn’t any more or less inccompetent than he ever was. It’s just that events and circumstances are very different now from what they were all those years ago when we had arguably the best team in Europe and only managed 3 PL titles with it.

People go on about the unbeaten season which is commendable but to me, having a team that good and only managing that much was like winning the lottery and blowing it quickly on wine, women and song. We didn’t build on it. We didn’t expand on it. We didn’t use it as a springboard to a brighter, more successful future on the pitch. Instead we blamed other clubs for spending more money, told everyone we couldn’t compete and gave ourselves and excuse for years of mediocrity. Over the years that glorious team slowly dissipated and replaced with less able individuals. I’ve never bought the idea that we couldn’t compete and never will.

Today, we stand at a junction where opportunity is knocking on one side and on the other, more of the same. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that we should embrace a new beginning, turn a chapter and yet, out of sheer stupid misplaced loyalty and sentimentality gone mad, we are running around like puppy dogs asking for Wenger’s autograph on a brand new contract. I can fully understand Wenger’s desire to stay but what I will never understand is why the board and owner cannot see what is so blindingly obvious to everyone else.

More spin from Arsene dating back to 2011 on Cesc&Nasri & on having money..
Apparently we don’t sell stars…lol..

Arsène Wenger has categorically ruled out the prospect of Samir Nasri leaving this summer, going so far as to suggest that Arsenal could not be considered a “big club” if they lost both the France midfielder and Cesc Fábregas.

Wenger has chosen to hold on to Nasri even though it could cost the club upwards of £20m in lost transfer fees, and the manager said he would “fight until the last second” to keep Fábregas, despite admitting his captain was “torn” over his desire to rejoin Barcelona.

“Samir’s situation is clear for me,” Wenger said. “He stays. We are in a [financial] position where we can say ‘No’ and we will, in the case of Samir.” Wenger said that it was better to keep Nasri for another season and risk losing him for nothing than to sell him to United or City before the closure of the transfer window, even if it represented a £20m gamble.

“You are the same people who reproach me for not spending money and now you reproach me for wanting to spend it,” he added, with a smile. “It is in the interests of the club. Fábregas is in no-man’s land … Imagine the worst situation, that we lose Fábregas and Nasri; you cannot convince people that you are ambitious after that.”

RVP in the same interview-highlighting the need for the club to spend money on top class players:-

Robin van Persie is desperate for Fábregas and Nasri to stay – he said that the former “would be a miss for any team” – and he stressed the need for Wenger to add quality to the squad. It is not inconceivable that Van Persie, who is under contract until 2013, would consider his future if he were unimpressed by the club’s transfer business.

“The way I feel now is that a few signings are more than welcome,” he said. “Every other team is buying quality players so hopefully we will do the same. You need investment to keep up. Everyone needs competition because no one really wants to go to sleep. In an ideal world, no one should be really sure of his place, except maybe the captain and the goalkeeper.

“Why not sign a player for £20m-£25m? These days, proper players cost money. Sometimes, it can be a statement for the others as well. But the main thing is it’s not just a label, a multimillion-pound signing. It’s more about the quality.”

The Alan Smith one is also very good. Watched it on YouTub earlier. What I don’t understand is that given that this has been going on for over 10 years, most people (including some fans) give the impression that it’s a recent thing. Wenger isn’t any more or less inccompetent than he ever was. It’s just that events and circumstances are very different now from what they were all those years ago when we had arguably the best team in Europe and only managed 3 PL titles with it.”

Half can’t be bothered with the faff of protesting. The other half are like TY from AFTV(engine is running but there’s nobody behind the wheel).

I’ve never seen this is all of professional sport. Whenever he does leave Arsenal need to take a good long hard look at how they have allowed an employee to hold the whole organization hostage. How can an employee decide the terms of his own employment?

People go on about the unbeaten season which is commendable but to me, having a team that good and only managing that much was like winning the lottery and blowing it quickly on wine, women and song. We didn’t build on it. We didn’t expand on it. We didn’t use it as a springboard to a brighter, more successful future on the pitch. Instead we blamed other clubs for spending more money, told everyone we couldn’t compete and gave ourselves and excuse for years of mediocrity. Over the years that glorious team slowly dissipated and replaced with less able individuals. I’ve never bought the idea that we couldn’t compete and never will.”

The thing is though that all of those accomplishments came almost a decade and a half ago. We are now Fiorentina

Whenever he does leave Arsenal need to take a good long hard look at how they have allowed an employee to hold the whole organization hostage. How can an employee decide the terms of his own employment?
—————————————-

Because they are all sleeping in the same kingsize bed.
Each hand washes the other…

Arsenal are well and truly stuck in the past. We all know what happens to sports personalities when they don’t know it’s time to quit. It gets very, very bad for them and circumstances take over. Wenger is heading for the greatest fall of his life and it will end in tears.

Smith bang on with that assessment, if there is any non WOB with an once of sense, that would have chilled them to the marrow.
Crazy that he can be so damning about the situation but still thinks a contract is on the table and wenger will sign it.
Mental.

Hoping, what seems to be genuine awakening by the majority of normally pro wenger fans, pundits, ex players, current players… and ultimately(hopefully) the impotent administration will be moved to do something football related for their salary for a change, rather than PR and trolling fans.

Not to keen on Tuchel tbh, not that I know much about him, not a big fan of Klopp either and dont think we should be doing anything silly like offering 5 year contracts.

I will never understand why Arsenal fans hate RVP when he was just ballsy enough to move to Man United because he was desperate to win the Premier League title- which he promptly won in his first season there.

Why would he rot his prime years away here and end up medal-less? He scored nearly 40 goals in a shit team in 2011-12 dragging us over the line for 4th, a player of that level of quality deserves to retire with a league title.

To be brutally honest.The thing that really grated me about Arsene prior to 2008,was his inability to win back-to-back EPL Titles.So my grudge with him stretches back to 2000 UEFA Cup Final & 2002 EPL,with his arrogant comment about a shift in power…See below..

And Wenger was quick to salute his heroes after victory at Old Trafford.

“We wanted tonight to be a shift of power, and to take the trophy back to Highbury,” he said.

the shameless pitiful stories regarding rebuilding and massive war chests have already started. At this point, I’m tired of complaining I’m not subjecting myself to visiting the stadium, or watching the games as I’ve barely watched a full Arsenal match more than once in months. Any talk of ruining legacy is too late, it’s game over for Arsene. At least now we can take pleasure in him fuck it all up completely. Stupid old man.

Yeah the guy was completely right to leave the club, we were going nowhere in 2012 and we’re going nowhere now.

This summer we will see an exact reenactment of the 2011 summer when Nasri and Cesc left, both Ozil and Sanchez want off this sinking ship… Don’t worry Theo and Aaron will work extra hard next year though!!

It is actually scary how predictable they are, weeks ago many of us on here suspected the international break would be when the news leaked out and would be coupled with stories of warchests, overhauls, changes, ambition etc, still suspect a DoF will come up as well.

33. Petr Čech: Completely shot, now struggling to get down to save shots.
13. Ospina: Gets hyped a lot, until he plays and we are all reminded how bang average he really is.
1. Szczęsny: Was nothing short of awful during his time as Arsenal #1. No idea how he is getting on in Rome.

Defenders:

2. Debuchy: Forgot he was at the club.
3. Gibbs: Wasn’t good enough 7 years ago, still isn’t good enough today.
4. Mertesacker: Finished at top level football.
5. Gabriel: Was no coincidence we shipped 5 away to Bayern when he came on for Kos.
6. Koscielny: Great player, expected to do it all by himself.
16. Holding: Looks good, needs Premier League experience.
17. Monreal: has been awful this year, needs to be replaced.
20. Mustafi: Started the season off well, looks to be falling apart more and more with each passing game.
21. Chambers: looks to be playing better.
24. Bellerín: Regressed so much this year, Barca-bound anyawy.
25. Jenkinson: Fuck sake…

Midfield:

8. Ramsey: One of Wenger’s favourites, only reason he is still at the club, not to talk about starting games.
10. Wilshere: No longer getting into the Bournemouth side… yet some people want him back at Arsenal.
11. Özil: Guy doesn’t give a shit anymore, leaving this summer.
14. Walcott: Pound for pound the worst Arsenal player the last 20 years.
15. Oxlade-Chamberlain: Has played well in patches, still not good enough to start for a team the size of Arsenal.
17. Iwobi: Has done next to nothing since getting into the side, another product of the Arsenal hype machine.
19. Cazorla: Best footballer at the club, on his last legs, needs to be replaced.
29. Xhaka: We passed over Kante for this guy???? Has been awful since we bought him.
34. Coquelin: Nowhere near good enough to start for Arsenal.
35. Elneny: Bench player at best.

Attack:

7. Sánchez: Born winner, too ambitious for a manager like Wenger.
9. Pérez: What more did this guy have to do to get a run in the team? He has been treated disgracefully by Wenger.
12. Giroud: A £12m pound striker. Thats what he is.
22. Sanogo: The fact he is still at the club tells you everything you need to know about what is going on there at the moment.
23. Welbeck: Glass man wasn’t good enough for United yet somehow was good enough for Arsenal.

WLG, whatever such articles say, reality, two star players will leave on the cheap along with the British core who have been allowed to run down contracts. Kroenke will pull the ECL money from the budget, Wenger will accept that willingly………Wenger will lose quite a few, dither and trolley dash as he did before. Neither the manager or club are set up to replace those leaving, let alone to the rest that needs doing.
Arsenal will be in the wilderness for five years, Kroenke will sell and we will rise again , Wenger a mistake never to be repeated
Wenger is the problem, Kroenke the root cause and enabler
I bet half the board don’t even want Wenger to renew but are doing nothing about it

Hahaha! Check this out from Sagna:
“At the moment I am quite sad for the manager because he doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him. He’s a great man and an institution for Arsenal. It’s not fair. I would like him to stay. I associate Arsenal with his name.”

Hold on a minute, Bacary. You left the club to join City, because you knew you had no chance to compete for anything at Arsenal, joining the likes of Clichy and Nasri who made the same decision. We’ve reached the stage where it’s either a pity party for Wenger from ex-players and ‘neutrals’ (who are fine applying morals to other clubs they wouldn’t require for their own), or a show of support from those whose allegiance he has bought by rewarding them with situations they don’t merit (Giroud, Walcott etc).

With hindsight you really have to admire all those players who stood up for the value of chasing glory and walked away from Wenger and Arsenal. Vieira, Henry, Van Persie, Sanchez et al.

Love this from Phil Thompson:
“People are feeling disgruntled and Arsenal fans are losing respect because he’s holding on and I think he needs to leave because he’s got options. Yes there will be talk about his replacement but I think if he loves the club and cares about it’s future then I think he should make and announce the decision to leave now. The down side is if he does sign a new contract then people like myself who respect him will be forced to say he’s brought it on himself and he’ll lose that respect in the game from those who have always held him in high regard.”

Jim Lahey, on the whole , our keeper has been pretty good in Rome.
Shows what a decent GK coach can do, keepers at arsenal show what a shit gk coach can do
Szcz really picked up when Jens was at the club doing his badges, he made the mistake of saying as much, and praising the coaching of Roberts as well….big mistake, none of Jens, Roberts or Szcz are at the club, but Gerry Peyton still is Wenger is very loyal to failing yes men coaches, even those who ruin talents such as petr Cech, who signed thinking arsenal would be getting his coach, lollichon

Will Wengers new summer overhaul start with the removal of his terrible recent signings?
Chambers, Debuchy, Mustafi, Zhaka, Perez, Elneny, not to mention the crap that should have gone long ago. Giroud, Walcott, Ox, Welbeck, Mertesacker, Ospinna and Ozil.
Won’t matter what Wenger does, he will fail badly with whatever desperate attempts he makes to salvage his reputation

I’m really curious why you think this stuff is “interesting” and deserves attention. It’s giving you an sustained high because you cant stop posting things that many of us are trying to move away from. It’s toxic whichever way you look at it.

Are you approaching this as an American or just an outsider enjoying the show?

John Cross has made up the whole article, but just to entertain his ideas:

Lacazette – Julien Laurens has been saying for a while that Lacazette is THE realistic CF target for Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool this summer because Lyon have announced he is for sale and he will sign for clubs in that sub-elite bracket. The price will likely be EUR50m. Having watched a lot of Lacazette recently, including two vital matches against Roma and PSG, he is simply not good enough for the very top level. It’s obvious why he isn’t linked with the elite clubs; he’s a limited player who doesn’t offer much outside of poaching goals. Lacazette would just be another incomplete role player to add to Giroud in attack.

Mbappe – not a chance in hell of him signing for us. Moving to Arsenal from Monaco is not even a sideways move anymore, there will be bigger clubs interested, and we can’t afford him when he will go for more than the EUR 70m that Martial will in total cost United.

Reus – Arsenal can’t afford another long-term sicknote on the playing staff.

Moussa Dembele – unproven at any respectable level. Scoring in the SPL is less taxing than Vincent Janssen banging them in in the Eredivisie. Has Frannie Jeffers written all over it.

But I think Cross isn’t far off in what we might see this summer, assuming we’re not offering CL football and £66m+ of revenue will be lost next season leading to the club being conservative with big long-term wage deals: Jack Butland from Stoke, Kieran Tierney from Celtic, Ross Barkley from Everton, Moussa Dembele from Celtic. Without a respected new manager selling an exciting vision to star players, I think we’ll be stuck with signings in that bracket.

Totally agree with your post. I never understood why we didn’t build on the ‘Invincible’ year.

Probably too busy with my business at the time and maybe sat back just expecting more of the same.

If Wenger walks, we can breath a huge sigh of relief and get behind the new manager no matter who it is.

If Wenger signs as is looking increasingly likely – Wenger IS testing the waters – then we need to collectively ramp up the ‘Wenger Out’ mode and continually find ways to get our voices heard.

Maybe one way is to have a gooner who lives not far from the Emirates and we all write letters to him and then he delivers all the sacks of letters to the stadium. If there are enough sacks, maybe the press will report on it. Use contacts to the press, such as Miles Palmer or Pedro for that.

I live in Thailand, so can’t do much other than to not buy anything AFC for my son who loves AFC and is only 8. He is the new generation. We should be working together for that generation and onwards.

If Wenger signs let’s raise it up from where ever we are in the world and keep going until He’s gone!

So it begins. What a farce. This is what we get: Wenger stays, sells the few talented players we’ve got because they are the dissenters, spunks all our money on more Denilsons and Squilachis, next season will be the worst in living memory, the old fool gets hounded out and the next manger will have a nightmare job.

Fuck you Wenger, you bottleless vomit, fuck you board, you cretinous worms.

you got to give it to the Vardy guy. He is a leader. he led a rebellion against mighty Ranieri. Wish there was one one similar confident bloke on the Arsenal dressing room.

Few days back some AKB had been pasting Vardy for no reason concerned with Arsenal. now, i get it. Those AKBs dont like manager sacking. They despise that kinda of leadership from players. they fear if Vardy is glorified, one day some arsenal bloke might stand up to this sticky leech’s tyranny on Arsenal fans.